Why Your Diet Isn’t Working (not the bs you’ve been fed)
Ya’ll, I went in so deep on this topic. And the deeper I got, the more questions I had. Then, when I found an answer to one question, it would raise 5 more! No wonder everyone is so damn confused about what to eat, when to eat, how to lose weight, am I healthy, is keto legit, are the vegans going to wilt away, am I slowly killing myself with carbs? It’s like a shit-sandwich up in this diet and exercise world.
Okay, let’s take a breath… I sifted through scientific research, studies, and tested my knowledge of basic human physiology and have come to a few conclusions.
In this post, I’m going to present some basic information, my takeaways, and tips. In upcoming posts I will go more in depth with the actual science and physiology that brought me, and health professionals, to these conclusions. Here we go!
Debunking Diets
First of all, there is nothing inherently wrong or bad about diets, it’s just what you consume on a daily basis. A “fad” or “crash” diet on the other hand, is a diet that is popular for a period of time and generally promotes unrealistic and unsustainable methods of weight/fat loss. Think detox teas and juice cleanses — don’t even get me started on those. I will be referencing more sustainable, less flashy diets and I want to preface this by saying: what is sustainable and works for one person, may not for another. If you’re happy with your diet and you feel great about your body, don’t go changing it just because someone said that this new one will “optimize your metabolism” and “you can eat as much as you want on the [insert catchy name] diet.” If you don’t like the food you’re eating, if you feel so restricted that you cave and binge on food that you know will affect your body negatively, that’s not the diet for you. There’s a statistic that says 95% of diets fail — I was unable to find the exact study so I cannot verify if that number is accurate but I would still bring it up even if it was just over 50%. This “failure” is not necessarily because they don’t work but because people don’t stick to them. So, the best diet you can do is not the one that is “optimized for your body type” and will “deliver results FAST,” it’s the one that you enjoy and can sustain over the long term.
Before I dive into my takeaways, there is some misinformation about nutrition and physiology I’d like to address:
Calories
First, I’d like to set the record straight on calories. Love them or hate them, they are important — though maybe not in the way you think of them. A calorie is just a unit of measurement to help determine how much energy it takes to burn a given substance (i.e. food). If you take in more energy than you are expending (eating more, moving less), then you will gain weight. If you are eating less and moving more, you will lose weight. This obeys the first law of thermodynamics: energy cannot be created or destroyed. You cannot gain weight when you are in a calorie deficit because there is no extra energy to store in your body, it is all being expended. If you’re thinking, “but that can’t be right, I’ve been eating fewer and fewer calories and I’m still not losing weight” these might be some reasons why:
Your calorie tracker/Fitbit is not accurate: it’s not yours specifically, they all are. Calorie trackers like MyFitnessPal are good for getting a general sense of how much you’re eating in a day, and exercise trackers like Fitbit might get you slightly more motivated to reach a certain step goal, but they can have anywhere from a 25-93% margin of error depending on the device (Fitbit Surge seems to be one of the most accurate). So, just because your Apple Watch said you burned 700 calories in an hour, that doesn’t mean you should go eat 700 more calories than you otherwise would have.
You’re not expending as much energy as you thought you were: We overestimate how many calories we burn during workouts. Also, when you do reduce your calories, your body tries to decrease your energy expenditure through non-exercise activities (like fidgeting). So you may have done a half hour cardio workout and think you burned so many calories because it was high intensity but on top of perceiving your workout as more intense than it may have been, your body is also decreasing your activity level by making you more still when not exercising. This is not an excuse to not workout though, you are still burning more calories than you would have if you hadn’t and there are numerous other health benefits like increasing cardiovascular health and preventing osteoporosis.
I’m not saying that you have to count calories and I’m certainly not saying that calorie counting is useless. But calories in, calories out is ultimately how we gain, maintain, and lose weight and I will be explaining the science behind it in my next post.
Hormones
There’s a lot of misinformation about how your hormones cause you to gain weight that I think makes people feel like they have to go to extreme lengths to “fix” their hormones and gives them a sense that it’s “just genetics” and they have no say in the matter. For the average person, this is not the case. Yes, your genetics play a huge role in what makes you you (duh), but for majority of the population, this does not doom them to being over or underweight. There are certain foods that trigger your “hunger hormones” because they are highly palatable — in other words, taste delicious and make you want more instead of making you feel full. A typical food combination that is highly palatable: carbs and fats, especially refined and precessed ones. Ever overeat on salad? Me either. Ever try to not overeat on cake but do it anyway? Me too. Don’t get me wrong, salads can taste great, but I think my tastebuds would still prefer a mediocre cake over some leaves. I will also be going more in depth about the hormones that regulate weight and hunger and what different foods trigger different chemical and hormonal responses in another upcoming post.
My Takeaways
You are not “big boned.” You and/or your family may have a predisposition to eat more or maybe it’s ingrained in your culture (shoutout to all the Italian moms who are offended if you don’t eat there cooking then say you should lose a couple pounds). Maybe it’s the types of foods you’re eating (I’m looking at you refined sugar and carbs) that are constantly spiking your blood sugar and making your body think that it needs more than it does. Maybe you’re eating so often that, as soon as your blood sugar levels drop your body freaks out and is like “you know what sounds good right now? Some bread. Maybe a cookie… how about we just eat straight outta the bag of chocolate chips over there.” It’s like an addict trying to get its fix. And it’s not because you’re weak willed. Your body is great at adapting… when given enough time. But when it’s used to functioning in one way, it tries to maintain that, because that is what it’s used to.
Going on a crash diet or even just a diet that’s completely new is like throwing your body into the deep end of a pool without learning how to swim first. Either survival instincts kick in — your body adapts and you are able to maintain the diet — or you drown because your body’s like, “f*** this, I’m out” and you’ve “failed” your diet. I don’t know about you but I haven’t heard many stories of people not drowning when they didn’t know how to swim, just as I’ve rarely heard of people jumping into some diet change (extreme or not) and being able to sustain it longterm.
For the majority of people, slow and steady is the way to go: making small changes over the long term. Does this sound fun and flashy and like the quick fix you wanted? No. But it’s not supposed to be. Because fun and flashy and quick are great sometimes… but you don’t want that to be your entire life — how exhausting! So, to make this information just a little more digestible — see what I did there — I’m going to break it down into 6 quick tips. These are by no means exhaustive or applicable to everyone in every case, but are worth trying if you haven’t before:
Food dupes, swaps, and add ons: Try zucchini noodles, throw some veggies in that omelet, swap out chips for unbuttered popcorn. You may be eating foods that trigger a hunger response rather than satisfy a craving. Ever have a craving for chips so you say you’ll just have a couple, and then you look down and you’ve somehow eaten the entire bag? It’s not because you don’t have willpower, it’s because highly processed, highly palatable foods send signals to your brain that block you from feeling full and making you think that you’ll feel better if you just have more and more (spoiler alert, you won’t). I will be going more in depth on this topic in my post about hormones, so stick around if you want to know why this happens and what foods to avoid or swap out.
Season that shit: This goes two fold. First, try to eat with the seasons (think whole foods, like squash in the fall and strawberries in the spring). Here’s a great website to help determine what’s in season in your area. Second, use seasonings! Especially when eating less palatable, unprocessed foods — just go a little easy on the salt. There are so many options from basics like basil and oregano to specialty blends like one of my favorites: McCormick Spicy Montreal Steak (it’s only $1.99 at Target)! Just make sure you read the ingredients; some may contain sugar so if you’re really trying to kick the sugar habit, make sure to choose one without and remember that a little goes a long way!
Buddy Up: Find an accountability partner or community that you can turn to when things get tough. I think people underestimate just how helpful it can be to have support and how difficult it can be when you don’t. You and your buddy don’t even have to be on the same diet or get the same results; just having them there to empathize and give you emotional support is enough. For anyone struggling to find a buddy or in need of more unbiased help, hit me up!
Wait a minute: And by minute I really mean about a month. Especially now when we are so used to everything being fast paced and instant gratification, when we don’t see result in a couple weeks, one week, a few days, we think it’s not working. We give up and blame it on the diet (or even worse, yourself). Weight-loss and finding what weight feels good for you is a process that, in order to see lasting results, should take longer than a week. If you want results that only last a week, then sure, do a juice cleanse — don’t actually though. But if you want results that last a lifetime, it’s going to take a bit longer and adjustments will need to be made along the way. Give your body at least 3 weeks to a month before making any drastic changes.
Space Out & Plan Meals: Give your body’s hunger hormones a chance to work! Contrary to the advice I was given, you don’t have to eater smaller, more frequent meals in order to be healthy and happy. I’ve found that eating fewer meals at more consistent times throughout the day helps me to not constantly think about when my next meal is. Also, planning ahead of time helps me to not worry about what I’ll be eating and how long it will take me to make it. Less cooking and prepping, more filling meals and time for other activities! This may not work for everyone so give it a shot — remember, give it a month — and then if it’s not for you, try smaller, more frequent meals. It’s all about what works for YOU.
Have more sex: Yeah, you read that right. With yourself, with a consenting partner (or two). Doesn’t matter. Sex relieves stress, elevates your heart rate (great for cardiovascular health), and brings your level of physical activity up. And if sex isn’t your jam, dance around your room, take a daily walk around the block, do jumping jacks every commercial break or Youtube ad. Increasing your physical activity level doesn’t have to be a chore: find movement you enjoy, and do it!
I am by no means saying that you or anyone should lose weight. Just because you fit into a certain size or look a certain way doesn’t mean you are healthy or unhealthy. No matter your size or shape, you deserve to love yourself. If you already feel amazing and healthy at the size you are at, that is wonderful! I hope everyone gets to that point. But if you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired. Struggling with weight related health conditions. Tired of trying diet after diet thinking that “this is going to be the one” only to fall off and think that you are somehow a terrible person because of it — you’re not. Even if you just want to improve your aesthetics or performance. Then I hope this and my future posts help you. Everyone deserves to feel good in their own body and everyone deserves to love themselves enough to want to improve their life.
Always seek the advice of a medical professional before making any drastic changes to your physical activity level and diet.
If you or someone you know is struggling with body dysmorphia or an eating disorder, here’s a helpline to get you connected to someone who can help.
